


However long that is

by KiraMae



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 16:18:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/994000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiraMae/pseuds/KiraMae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A headcanon about how Shepard and Garrus married during the events of the Citadel DLC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	However long that is

“Hon?” Shepard prodded Garrus with a bare toe from her position, stretched out sideways on the sofa.

“Mmm?” he responded distractedly from where he sat at the other end, attention not wavering from the datapad in his hands.

“Marry me?”

Garrus looked up, a finger on the datapad marking his spot, and raised his brow plates. “What?”

“Marry me,” Shepard repeated, cheeks going slightly pink but voice firm. “Now, tonight.”

Garrus turned to face her squarely, abandoning the datapad. His eyes searched her face, drinking in the sight of her; he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of seeing her like this. They’d spent the day after the clone incident shut up in the apartment “recovering” and although it was well in to the evening, her hair was still tousled and uncombed, and she was still dressed in the oversized shirt she liked to sleep in and nothing else. When he’d asked at one point if she intended on getting dressed, she’d dismissed him with an  _are-you-crazy_  look and he’d been content to let her, as she termed it, “veg out” on the couch marathoning old Earth shows. These were the first words she’d spoken (aside from the occasional tirade at the television) in hours.

“What brought this on?” he asked in mild confusion.

“I was just thinking about that stupid clone. She thought she had her whole life ahead of her and then it was all over… just like that. And that could have been me. That’s as close to ‘it could have been me’ that anything has ever been,” she said, brows furrowed and eyes distant. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “I used to think, after this war, once all this shit is done with, but… we might not get that chance. Anything could happen, and we might not both make it to the end of this war.”

“Don’t talk like that, Shepard. You can do this.” Garrus reached over and placed a finger under her chin, bringing her head up and holding her gaze.

“Not without you.”

He blinked, at a loss for words. He didn’t need to think about it; of  _course_  he’d marry her, in a heartbeat. He’d known since their brief separation that the place for him was at her side. But he wanted her to come to that same conclusion in total clarity. He didn’t want a knee-jerk reaction to being faced with her own mortality to result in her rushing into commitment shouting  _carpe diem,_  and ultimately end up regretting it when she found herself stuck with an alien whose biology was barely compatible. His doubts must have shown on his face; her expression relaxed and she scooted in close and took his face in both hands, thumbs tracing the markings on his cheekbones. She pulled his head down until their foreheads were resting against eachother and looked him in the eye.

“This isn’t as sudden as it sounds, Garrus. I’ve known this since… since I saw you again on Menae. Hell, since I found you on Omega. Every time we’ve been apart, I thought I was doing OK but when I see you I realize that I am  _so much_ better when you’re with me. I didn’t know how to tell you, but by the time I figure it out, it… could be too late. I’m sick of waiting. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. However long that is. Marry me.”

With each word she spoke, Garrus felt his heart swelling in his chest until he thought he might burst. He brought his hands up to her shoulders, gripping hard, and with her final words, he leaned in and kissed her hard on the mouth.

“Nothing would make me happier.”

And so it was that, late in the night, the human Spectre and the turian vigilante appeared before an asari clerk at the Citadel embassies. She complained about the necessity of putting pants on for this, and he made suggestive remarks about the rewards for when she took them off again later. It took less than an hour to fill out and sign the paperwork, which due to their war-hero status, was rushed through the system. Before midnight, they were married.

**Author's Note:**

> This particular Shepard will go on to choose the "Control" ending. Even though she and Garrus discussed a more formal wedding after the war, things did not turn out that way for them. This becomes one of Garrus' most treasured memories of her.


End file.
